First Place, Covelli team up for a cause

First Place Bank and the Covelli Centre are teaming up to help fight hunger in the Mahoning Valley with a new “Become a Soup Bowl Star” program.

Aimed at feeding hungry families in the community by combating the drop-off in donations at local food banks immediately after the holidays, First Place Bank locations will accept donations of canned soup until Wednesday, which will be donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank.

The Covelli Centre also will accept canned food donations, those donating more than 10 cans will receive a discount voucher for $3 off a ticket to the Friday show of the upcoming Toughest Monster Truck Tour.

Get registered for business conference

columbus

Early-bird registration ends Thursday for the eighth annual Ohio Business Matchmaker Conference, which will take place March 27 and 28 in Dayton.

The conference links small businesses with government agencies and prime contractors for potential contracting opportunities, by allowing owners a unique chance to meet buyers from city, state, county and federal agencies.

The conference will take place at the Dayton Convention Center from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information about the conference, registration fees or to register, visit www.ohiobusinessmatchmaker.com, or contact the Ohio Small Business Development Center at 614-466-2711.

Event will feature 2 learning leaders

Columbus

Two national leaders in online learning will be featured at the 2013 Ohio Educational Technology Conference from Feb. 11 to 13.

Sebastian Thrun and Andrew Ng will address the conference at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Thrun is the CEO of Udacity, a start-up focused on democratizing higher education and a part-time Google Fellow and Research Professor at Stanford University.

Ng is a co-founder of Coursera, and a computer science faculty member at Stanford. For more information about the conference and complete listing of scheduled events, including the keynote addresses, visit www.etech.ohio.gov/conference.

2012 brings new businesses to Ohio

COLUMBUS

Ohio had 88,068 new entities file to do business in the state during 2012, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

Marking the third-straight year of business gains, 2012 saw 2,647 more new businesses than 2011, according to the office’s records.

“Ohio is heading in the right direction,” said Secretary of State Jon Husted. “We should build upon these successes and continue to make our state the preferred location for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.”

Vindicator staff reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Aqua America, .70, 26.77 —.39

Avalon Holdings,3.93.00

Clear Channel, .29 32.24 —.11

Cortland Bancorp, 9.77.00

Farmers Nat., .126.50 —.04

First Energy, 2.20, 40.27.35

FirstMerit Corp., .64,14.98 —.12

First Niles Financial, .32,6.50.00

First Place Fin., .0055.00

FNB Corp., .48,11.47.02

General Motors,29.07.29

General Electric, .76,22.29.24

Motors Liquidation, .0422.00

Huntington Bank, .16, 6.93—.06

JP Morgan Chase, 1.20,47.16.79

Key Corp, .20,9.29.05

LaFarge, 15.75 .39

Macy’s, .80, 38.74 —.26

Parker Hannifin, 1.64, 94.37.40

PNC, 1.60,61.97.11

RTI Intl. Metals,29.19—.04

Simon Prop. Grp.,4.40,162.35.19

Stoneridge 6.22 .12

United Community Fin. 3.26—.04

Selected prices at 4 p.m. Friday. Provided by Stifel Nicolaus. Not to be construed as an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any security.